10 hours
by mysterious advisor
Summary: A lot of things can happen in 10 hours. Ianto asks, Jack answers, Tosh listens, Owen regrets and Gwen destroys.


Wohoo! My first Torchwood fic... and the first fic written after a loooooooooooooooooooooong break! *wipes forehead*

Ok, now for the warnings: despite Eve Myles' lovely voice, I do generally loathe her character on the show... a bit less for season 3, but since "the unthinkable" happened there, we're not gonna talk about it. So, there WILL be an almost Gwack scene, but do not fret my friends, this story Janto all the way... and maybe a little bit of Towen (it just happened on the way).

Why, you ask? Because plot bunnies + angst (+ fluff) = Janto

The rating is PURELY for safety.

And Torchwood is regrettably not mine. It belongs to BBC and RTD *grumble grumble*

*Dum Dum Dum*

* * *

"Is it ever going to end?"

It was four o'clock on a sunny afternoon when this question came out in the open. Although it was the middle of the working day for most of Cardiff, for the employees (or rather slaves, in one or two opinions) of Torchwood Three in was something between lunch break and possibly a really early evening. Owen was at home, dead to the world, finally asleep for the first time in three days, during which he had performed four autopsies and had patched up his colleagues after a rough round of weevil hunting. Gwen was most likely about to head out herself in order to meet Andy Davidson, her former colleague, and discuss some of the unusual cases that had appeared in the past month. Tosh was alone in the Hub… or about to remain alone anyway, drowned in her incomprehensible, but oh so vital programs.

But the most surprising fact of all was that Jack and Ianto were, for once, outside the Hub as well. They were sitting on a wooden bench on the Plass in silence, staring at the deep Bay, sharing a couple of sandwiches the younger man had bought that morning, on his way to work… or rather, they had been sitting in silence… until Ianto had opened his mouth and asked the question that was most likely about to change his life.

"What is?" Jack asked, eyes still gazing away, less than half of mind paying attention to his supposed lover.

"You and Gwen." Somewhere far, far away, a thunder shook the air. The sunny afternoon was apparently about to become a cloudy evening and, more than likely, a rainy night… like most nights in Wales. Suddenly, Jack's brain came out of its contemplation and commanded the Captain's blue eyes to stare to his right, where his… _his what? Lover? Colleague? Butler?_... sat.

"Me and Gwen?"

"The flirting, the bedroom eyes… the heart-to-heart that always seems to end up with both of you desperately regretting that you're not single…" Ianto detailed, staring right into the Captain's eyes. For a moment there was only silence… and then, laughter.

"Ianto, you're the one I sleep with." Those damned dimples appeared in his cheeks as he answered incredulously.

"By choice or by need?"

"Where is this coming from?"

"By choice or by need? Answer me!" Ianto demanded, for the first time showing signs of anxiety and… rage?

"You know, you're really something. You refuse to hold my hand in public, you never let me kiss you even in front of the team and yet, here you are, complaining of the state of our relationship." Jack stood up from his seat and glared at him.

"Don't you dare lay this at my door! You leave, you come back, you pour your heart to Gwen and you shag me, all the while never expecting any questions, never making any real choices!" Ianto glared back and raised his voice, for once not caring if there was anyone in the near vicinity who could hear them.

"You're the one I sleep with."

"By choice or by need?"

"It's a simple matter of demand and supply, Ianto. You should have known this by now." And there it was: the infamous Harkness "no strings or even mercy attached" method. The only difference was that now, it didn't just make Ianto feel like a loser's prize or an eternal substitute… it also made him feel like a whore… and that was something he didn't think he could live with.

Desperately, the Welshman searched his Captain's eyes, looking for a sign, the smallest one possible, that this was all a hoax, a bad joke… that he had spoken those words carelessly or that he meant to protect him instead of hurting him like hell. But there was nothing there. Just two pools of deep blue betraying overconfidence and an ego big enough to choke London and Cardiff together. And this broke Ianto's heart. Forget Gwen… this was even worse than the never-ending fear of Jack cheating or dumping his sorry arse for the doe-eyed woman. This was far worse.

"Well then…" he tried to shrug off and even managed, on the outside at least. "Consider me off the market, sir." He stood up, turned away and quietly crossed the Plass, towards the Tourist Office, leaving Jack to stare at his trail. Just another Welshman dressed up in an immaculate suit, walking around in the afternoon hours. After all, becoming invisible was Ianto's specialty.

* * *

When Owen showed up for work that evening, around 9 o'clock, the Hub was silent. Way more silent than it should have been and that immediately made him think that there might have been an emergency, someone could have been wounded… and he might have missed the phone call by some twist of fate. He sped past the work stations (Tosh wasn't at her desk and that was what had really scared him) and to the autopsy bay, which he found blissfully empty and generally untouched.

"Hey Owen." The computer genius appeared from somewhere with a tired smile plastered on her face and her glasses still perched on top of her nose.

"Hi Tosh. What did I miss?" he asked, more out of habit than any real interest, while literally throwing himself on the couch.

"Nothing much. Gwen spoke to Andy about those bizarre case reviews he compiles for us every few weeks and, for once, they were all just false alerts. I'm reviewing some programs, but I'm sure you don't care about that…" she sent him a self-deprecating smile which he returned apologetically. "And I think something happened with Jack and Ianto." She finished her sentence almost in a whisper and glanced at the Captain's office. Owen followed her gaze and noticed that all the lights were off and the door was closed.

"Isn't it a bit early for a shag?"

"Ianto came back in the Hub this afternoon looking a bit ruffled. He tidied everything up, fed the inmates and disappeared in the archives without a single word. He left about an hour ago, but not before making some coffee and leaving it heated. Thought you might need it after the last three days you've had." She pointed at the small kitchen and Owen immediately got up to pour himself and, surprisingly enough, Tosh a cup.

"Ah, bliss!" he exclaimed after a careful sip. "So, what do you reckon happened to Mommy and Daddy?"

"I don't know…" she looked down, her face betraying sadness and worry.

"Tosh?" the medic frowned at her. A long moment later she looked up, black eyes boring into his.

"Jack's with Gwen… and has been for a while now…"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk! Tosh, you've been snooping around again."

"Their mobile signals place them at a hotel right outside Cardiff… on the road towards the Beacons." Silence filled the Hub once more. Tosh was staring at Owen, but the doctor apparently found his mug fascinating. Slowly, she turned around and sat back at her computer, returning to her little world.

"I pity Jack." It was an hour later that he finally spoke out. "Gwen… there's definitely something about her… but it never… stays. She's not even that beautiful… but boy does she "scream" pheromones. She's attractive… but she's selfish… even in bed, she's so selfish that, after a while, it makes you feel like a slave… and not in the kinky way. It's more like… the painful way. Gwen doesn't give… she takes. And Jack's an idiot… because once he'll find out that those she claims to love end up the most destroyed and dried up… then he'll really understand what she's all about. I pity him. He had Ianto… and Ianto would've turned himself into a slave for him… I know that and you know that. Hell, after what he's been through I can't even judge him… I get it… I get this insane, desperate attempt to find love and to keep it as close as possible, even it's just a bit. Jack will want that from Gwen at some point… but he'll never get it… because she's one selfish bitch." He ended his monologue and turned to Tosh, who was staring at him speechless. "I pity Jack and I pity myself. We could've both had great things… had it not been for Miss Wonderful and her freckled smile. I'm sorry Tosh." He stared right back at her before standing up and disappearing down into the autopsy bay, where there was one last corpse waiting to be hacked.

* * *

At 19.45 sharp, Jack Harkness breezed through the hotel's entrance, walking decisively towards the restaurant placed somewhere behind the reception area. After Ianto's earlier episode, he decided he needed a break. And a break usually meant good food, a good drink and, possibly, a good shag. Except this night it wasn't going to be a proper young man wearing bright shirts and dark suits, but a certain doe-eyed, black-haired woman he had wanted for some time now. He didn't like admitting it, but Ianto had been somewhat right. There was attraction, there were seductive gazes… there was lust… and perhaps something more than that.

He passed the restaurant door and gazed around the relatively crowded area. About an hour earlier it had started raining and, after a long drive, Jack had phoned Gwen and asked her to meet him. It was now pouring and they were probably off spending the night at the hotel. Driving in this weather after all could be quite dangerous.

He spotted her sitting at a table for two, right next to a wide window, gazing outside either at the darkened evening or at the raindrops knocking in the glass. He grinned and walked to the table, not bothering to say "Hello" and just falling into his designated chair.

"Food any good here?"

"Of course. But you already knew that or you wouldn't have asked me to come in the middle of nowhere in this horrible weather." She smiled and her gapped teeth emerged from behind a pair of plump cherry lips. Yeah, she was definitely thinking the same thing. Whatever had happened before, this was it. This was the night she had been waiting for all this time, since before officially joining Torchwood.

"Well said, Miss Cooper. How about we start with a good drink?" he raised a hand and signaled the waiter.

"What's going on, Jack?" she asked when they were alone again, leaning over the table and peering into his eyes carefully.

"Just felt like eating some good food in good company." He winked and smiled again, bringing a delightful blush to her cheeks. He could almost hear her heart from across the table and he couldn't wait to feel it under his hands… under his body. Yes, perhaps Ianto's earlier episode was meant to finally set this whole situation on the right track. Why should he keep running away from destiny? What was the point of lusting after someone if you couldn't have them at least once? So what if she was engaged? He'd done far worse things in his life and, besides, maybe tomorrow she wasn't going to be anymore. After all, even a deathless life could still be just as surprising as a normal one. "Hmm, I wonder if they have any rooms available." He commented as if to himself, gazing out the window in order to intentionally miss her surprised stare. "The weather outside is horrible. I really don't understand how you Welsh people can stand it."

"If you've lived here your entire life it almost becomes beautiful. I'm surprised you haven't got used to it after being stuck here for so long."

"Trust me, I don't usually have this much time off to even comment on the weather, let alone complain about it." He smirked again, fully aware of exactly what his dimples did to her. Or rather what they did to anyone… well, almost anyone.

Exactly one hour after his confident stride inside the hotel, the door to room 14, on the second floor, was rapidly unlocked, opened and slammed shut. A second later, a dull thud could be heard outside. Above the hotel, rain kept pouring down mercilessly, thudding onto the roof tiles and drowning a bit of the muffled noises coming out from behind the locked door of room 14.

They kissed desperately, hands ravaging clothes, unintentionally scratching skin in their quest for new, uncharted territory. Gwen's legs were tightly wrapped around Jack's waist as he held her roughly against the hotel room door. Somehow, her hands had skillfully made it below the warm coat and shirt, now touching hot skin, while her tongue did sinful things to his mouth. And to think that until now he had thought he was the only one capable of kissing like that. But now, everything was about to change. Of course, the 21st Century was the time when everything changed. Everything!

He practically ripped the leather jacket off her shoulders, grabbed her legs and swung her off the door and into the room. During more fussing and angry, almost frustrated kisses, his coat flew to the floor, his shirt became completely open, braces off the shoulders of course, and her top ended up in the bedroom's doorway. Without any warning, she took of her bra and dropped it on the cream-colored carpet below their feet, right before he grabbed her hips again and settled her on the wide bed, dropping his own body over hers. For a moment, he didn't touch her… he didn't even breathe… he just stared at her naked chest, feeling her jean-clad legs wrapped around his waist once more and knowing, just knowing that the look in her dark green eyes spoke of desire, admiration and perhaps… just perhaps something more.

"I want you, Jack! Do it!" Had he been outside in the frozen rain and he wouldn't have felt as cold. The words poured over him like an icy shower. He looked up from the naked breasts and into her eyes… and what he saw there chilled his soul: demand. Pure, carnal demand. Nothing more. And he finally understood. Was this what Ianto had meant? Was this how he looked at this former young lover?

Suddenly, a terrible ache took over his heart and he found himself desperately wishing to stare down at baby blue eyes. He wanted the legs around his waist to be longer and clad in tailored trousers. He wanted the naked chest to be male and covered with a red shirt and a tie. And he wanted to be cherished. He wanted to mean something.

The vision before his eyes blurred and he thanked the gods for the darkness. He unfolded the legs around him, stood up and, mumbling a half-hearted apology under his breath and shutting his ears to the calls coming from the general direction of the bed, grabbed his coat from the floor and got out.

A minute later, he was driving away from the Beacons and towards Cardiff.

* * *

It was midnight when a strong round of knocks at his front door woke Ianto Jones up. He had a doorbell, specifically designed so that people wouldn't have to mistreat his door, which would've worked much better than the old-fashioned knocking. But then, there always was that one person who stubbornly refused to obey the normal society rules and just had to bend them over and over again until you had no other choice but give up. And, for Ianto Jones, that one person was…

"What do you want, Jack?" he asked tiredly. He'd barely managed to fall asleep and if the Captain had wished for something, he could have either called or let himself in, like he usually did, instead of causing all that ruckus. But all thoughts flew away the moment he felt a strong hand grip the front of his t-shirt, pushing him inside the house, past the living-room and into the bedroom, almost throwing him over the bed. When he finally became aware of his circumstances, he found himself face-to-face with an angry looking Jack Harkness, straddling down his legs and almost breathing in his face. His handsome features were twisted in a painful frown and his dark blue eyes were a far cry from the emotionless orbs that had stared him down that afternoon on the Plass. His clothes were in complete disarray, his hair unkempt and his breathing labored, as if he had run away for miles before reaching his flat.

"You bastard! I hate you! You conned me! Me! They say you can never con a conman, but there you were with that bloody cyberwoman, conning me! You were supposed to die, but you tricked me again and again! You were supposed to make my life easier that night and put a bullet in your brain by your fucking self. But no, you bested me! You had to prove me wrong! And you did when you showed up for work the next morning and cleaned up your own mess like the good little minion you were supposed to be! You should've died again in the Beacons. But you didn't! You sacrifice yourself for Tosh and you still survived! You proved me wrong again and again and again. You, this little cosmic joke that walks around in fancy suits and makes the best coffee in the whole bloody Universe, you just had to con me and prove me wrong! You just had to be special. That special and good! Because you're Ianto Jones, archivist at Torchwood Three, my fucking subordinate and the one I had to fucking fall in love with after all this time. _I hate you, Ifan Jones!_" he declared angrily, passionately, bringing even more fear in the young man below him. Gritting his teeth, the Captain stood up, turned around and flew out the door, leaving behind a scared and almost shaking archivist.

It took Ianto a while to be able to calm down and get back into bed. After checking the front door, windows and balcony over and over again for almost an hour, exhaustion and shock took their toll, almost forcing him to return beneath the now cold covers, in a desperate attempt to clear his head, calm down and maybe manage to take a short, and definitely nightmare-filled, nap.

He'd finally managed to close his reddened eyes around 2 o'clock, when a very familiar body crept into his bed, spooning itself around his back and wrapping warm, comforting arms around his trembling body. He opened his eyes with a gasp and froze, feeling something wet touching the back on his neck. Jack's tears.

"Please forgive me. Please, please forgive me." The words came out pained, filled with regret and begging. "I'm a fool. I nearly threw myself into the proverbial fire. I'm an idiot. Please forgive me."

* * *

Open ending... although let's all face the fact that the two are meant for each other! (yes, crazy Janto fan present and accounted for)

I've got some other ideas our favorite boys and I might just start writing them down if I get a positive answer. If not, then clearly I'm not meant to be writing Janto fanfiction.

So, I did my bit and wrote it, you do your and review it. Thx in advance!


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